


Cronus and Fern Origins

by DigSmash



Category: Original Work, Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Angst, Bi, F/F, F/M, Gay, LGBT, Lesbian, M/M, OC, Other, Overwatch - Freeform, Science Fiction, Trans Male Character, Transgender, cyborg
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-29
Updated: 2018-04-30
Packaged: 2019-04-29 13:11:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 6,760
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14473440
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DigSmash/pseuds/DigSmash
Summary: An Overwatch original character fanfiction about a vigilante and his favorite omnic that share the same traumatic and epic past. As they uncover more about themselves, they also uncover more to aid Overwatch against the violent terrorist group Talon. As well as resolving emotional problems and other things to trouble the mind in certain characters, they find themselves also lost in a foreseen everlasting friendship, to put it that way. This fic was started almost a year and a half ago, but for some reason recently I've felt obligated to work on it again. Brace yourself.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> “Are you kidding me?.”  
> I asked. Mccree had stopped in front  
> of an old amusement park. It looked  
> worn, I could tell it had seen  
> better days. “I don’t believe it  
> either, honestly.” Fern spoke up. He had  
> been really paranoid recently,  
> I could tell. Even before the casino  
> incident. Whatever he saw, I didn’t see,  
> and it scared the hell  
> out of both of us.” - C.
> 
> “Hey, dude, wake up. Get up. I said get up... Get up!.”  
> I heard a familiar voice repeat, I made a  
> metallic grunting sound and sat up. “Wh...what?”  
> I said, extending my robotic arms.  
> I peered up to see the pink umbrella shading my  
> awkward poses. “What time is it?” I asked bluntly. “It’s  
> 8:15.” Alex responded. We were still in  
> some guy’s lawn, and Alex had set up a little  
> breakfast meal of 60c honey buns and  
> crappy-brand orange juice. He must’ve stolen  
> it from some fridge inside the house while I  
> was asleep. “You know I can’t eat, right?” I said.  
> “Yeah, but remember you said you liked to  
> feel normal?” He responded. “Besides, it’s… kind of  
> free food.” He added. “I guess you’re right.” I said,  
> putting the honey bun in one of  
> my back pockets. I could tell it had a deeper meaning  
> though, but it was too early to think.”- F

“What do you mean, ‘Cameras’?”  
I taunted sarcastically.   
“Well, we have been causing a lot of trouble-”   
“I COULD GET CAUGHT!”  
I screamed at him. I could hear him cowering. It’s easy to scare someone when half of your face is of reptilian nature and you’re wearing a dirty mask. Makes you look tough.. And the lighting.   
“DO YOU REALIZE WHAT THIS MEANS!?”  
I could see him nod slowly.  
“I HAVE TO LEAVE THE CITY!, god, I should've known I couldn’t count on a low-life criminal who steals snacks from seven elevens and then runs around with me saying you have real experience. Jesus, kid. Grow up.”   
I threw him the flashlight and turned my back.  
“You’re on your own.”  
I walked out of the warehouse, leaving him behind. He was only my getaway man, my assistant, what you’d call a ‘sidekick’. I never felt for him though, can’t even remember his name. I walked Into a gas station and looked for cameras. None. this was a pretty crappy servo, anyways. I kept my hood low so no one could see my face and recognize me as I slipped into near aisles. I grabbed a soda and got to a spot where the cashier couldn’t see me, and slipped it into my knapsack. The soda was in an open ice box, so the cashier couldn’t hear anything. Don’t think they were paying attention anyway. I walked into the bathroom, and dropped my hood after closing the door. It was a normal bathroom, a few stains here and there. I turned the water temp to hot, and splashed my face with my dirty hands. I took a look at myself in the mirror. Not a day over sixteen, I always say. I was paler than a ghost. I brought my hand up to touch my face, my brownish-green scales on my right cheek were hard and smooth, why are they like that, I wondered?. What happened to me?. I looked down at my hands, and saw how filthy they were from burying that automatic several hours ago, even after washing them. I guess you could say I’m an ‘antihero’ or whatever you call someone like me these days. That gun was illegal, and was going to be sold at an auction to a dangerous buyer, So before the auction I stole and buried it behind a 56-year-old abandoned apartment building, nothing wrong there. Boy, I sure was swifty. I washed my hands again and exited the Podunk along with my ‘free’ soda. As soon as I was a block away I quickly slipped off my mask, popped the tab, and drank up. I had to wear my mask because if I didn’t I would die from lack of CO2, for some reason I couldn’t breathe correctly. Every time I tried I always ended up gasping and crying. I quickly slipped my mask back on and put my hood up. I had a place behind a barbecue where I slept, the roof. I would always go there to think, clear my mind. You see, for the past two months I haven’t been able to remember anything about my past, or why I am like I am. I just can’t remember, but I’m smart enough not to fuck around. As soon as I got there I slipped into the alley and jumped on top of the dumpster, climbing onto the roof where my small tent was set up, along with my fold-out lawn chair and cooler. I always got plenty of Ice from the icebox whenever the place was closed. And, I admit, I do love watching the stars in the night sky. The very bright, light polluted sky. I sat down in my lawn chair, waiting for the 10 o’clock ‘brr’ of the ice machine. I looked down at my watch, it was 9:59. 10:00. I listened... nothing, that’s strange. Maybe they turned it off?. I sat in silence until I heard something fall onto the ground, and I sprang up immediately. It sounded like something heavy. Someone’s here, doesn’t sound too good on my part, I thought. I listened more closely… “alllllexxx..” someone swooned. I know that voice. “Where are youuu?.” I peeked over the side of the hangover and saw a familiar figure pacing below on the dirty pavement. I couldn’t help myself from speaking, “Hey!”, I shouted hesitantly, he turned around. Ugh, my ‘sidekick’. What he had in his hands was more frightening than his dirty face all the times I’d seen him. It was the AR-15 I had buried earlier. He quickly hoisted the gun, aiming it in my direction, and shot at me just as i slung my head back. “What are you doing?.” I asked, annoyed. A small, dirty 14-year-old kid doesn’t scare you much when you’re hanging around gangs and other bad people. “You’re coming with me, sweetheart.” he said, and made kissing sounds. I grimaced, pet names make me very uncomfortable, even coming from a small kid from a small, Podunk town. “Over my dead body, rookie.” I snapped back, edging closer to the center of the truss where I stood, shaking. “Well, that can be arranged.” he said in a threatening tone. “You and what army?” I sarcastically remarked. What a scrub. All I heard was a low chuckle, that can’t be good. “See for yourself, pretty girl.” Son of a bitch! He knows goddamn well I’m a guy, and the situation made it ten times worse. I was about to say something else, but then two giants leapt down from different rooves and jumped me, wrestling to get me still. Unfortunately for someone who hasn’t worked out in two months, this fate was sealed as soon as i saw the size of the muscles those guys had. They held me against the giant brick chimney of the barbecue house while the pest climbed onto the dumpster, and then reached the roof. “Kid?.” he toyed. “Oh, I can be much more..” He said in a hushed tone. “Don’t you dare. I swear to god when i’m loose-” “let’s cut the talk, sugar.” he said with a menacing grin, one that reminded me of broken glass. Now i was pissed. “you have some nerve...” I growled. “I’m gonna lock you up, and when you’re in the jailhouse, I’ll get your title. I’ll be the best and most notorious criminal instead of you. I’LL-” I slapped him as soon as one of the men loosened their grip. He staggered back, almost tripping himself. The men started backing away, strange. Why though? They obviously had me up against the wall here. after the men backed up, I spoke. “You’re dreaming, kid. And if you don’t got anything better to do then i suggest runnin’. It’s good exercise.” my godfather voice should do the trick, i thought. Now, I for one have never committed murder, as with all the new technology we have today the PD could find me in an instant. Even if this was a slum. But also, no one even cares. “You couldn’t hurt a fly” he said, Mocking me. Mocking me? “You are dead to me and the world, you little brat.” I said, making a very serious yet frightening face to look at. Nobody threatens me. Cronus, the killer. The widower. Whatever morbid street name I could think of to make myself feel more overpowering, like losers thinking surreal on the bus. As they started backing up. I heard one guy whisper, “what’s happening?” What was happening?... “Run for it! It’s a bomb!” he screamed. I immediately went into shock. Not the time for a panic attack!! Not the time!!!, I scolded myself, eyes wide as plates. I couldn’t move. I was helpless. Everyone in my sight ducked for cover as I saw white rise from the ground all around me, and then I saw nothing.


	2. Escape

“Ugh… where am I? What… what happened?”  
“It’s going to be ok, ma’am. Just stay calm.” I looked up and blinked until my eyes hurt, there was an omnic in a white uniform telling me to stay calm and keep breathing. I was still pissed… I think. I couldn’t see my mask, so I opened my mouth and licked the inside just to make sure it was still there. “What... happened?” I asked groggily, moving my fingers one at a time. yup, still there. “It appears that there was a bomb on that roof, well, that’s what the other three told me.” said the omnic. They sounded scared. “Are they hurt?” I asked. “Very badly…” they replied, their voice wavering. “Good…” I managed, then closed my eyes.  
I rested for a few hours in the hospital until morning, while the doctors tried to find out if there was anything wrong with me, besides my face. Y’know, scales and scars. I woke up when no one was in the room, and sat on the side of the hospital bed. I was missing my bag. I rubbed my eyes and looked around at the grayish-blue hospital room they were keeping me in. They didn’t have anything hooked up to me, so I figured I was an okay guy, physically speaking. Did they seriously just leave me on a bed and think I wouldn’t leave?. Maybe they weren’t funded enough to afford handcuffs. Then again, why would a hospital need those?. I was about to get up and open the window, then I heard the door open. I quickly laid back down before they could see me up, and I acted as if I was asleep. “Do you know what we have to do, Barron?” someone with a deep voice asked, entering the room. “Yes, Daryl.” Barron said sarcastically, followed by heavy footsteps. “you understand who she is, right?” Daryl whispered. I growled. “Yeah, I know. And we have to find a lawyer, and-” “-but why can’t we just lock her up?, you know she’s a criminal. everyone does!” baron sighed, “Yes, but it needs to be fair, we have to give her a trial. Also there’s no serious felony on her criminal record-” “-we’ll sort that out later, c’mon. Let’s go check on the others.” “Whatever.” they both walked out of the room and closed the door, locking it behind them. I sat back up. They know who i am...well, not quite. I walked to the window after getting out of the small bed. Now that the government knows I’m here, I have to leave immediately. Get a plane ticket or a car or something. Now I could care less about whoever attacked me just then, as they would have no clue where I was. I opened the window, and peeked outside. I counted about-eh-17 cop cars, and 3 ambulances. Ambuli? Whatever, I’m only going to use that term once in this fic. It appeared I was maybe on the fifth or sixth floor, good thing the windows were relatively small. I looked to the right, and thankfully there was a ledge that led right into the small patch of woods next to the hospital. Time to get swifty. I pulled up my hood, and carefully stepped onto the ledge. I edged my way across the exterior of the hospital, maybe about 20 feet, until I got close enough to jump to a tree. It was higher up than I assumed. I clung tight to the branch of what I knew as an oak tree, and jumped down onto the ground. Suddenly something big, black and ugly pulled into the cop-infested lot that almost made me squeak in terror; what looked like a long, slick, most likely government-owned vehicle, followed by two others alike. I hid behind a stump and watched them come out of the cars like water poured from a glass. Three men in each car, each with suits on and small ear pieces, like in spy movies. The realization hit me. “Oh no…” I thought, not today. I was careful not to make a sound or move until all of them made it inside the building. I turned around and walked several yards out of the small woods patch and heard cop car sirens wail. I started running, and then I jumped onto someone’s hover cycle and took off. I wanted to get lost before they found me, so I went to a place they would never look, a nearby pastry shop i went to nearly every morning, but I never told anybody. I was a sucker for a good cinnamon roll. I walked in and, as usual, fern was setting out morning bagels and pastries of all sorts. Fern is my best friend and, to be honest, my only friend. He was wearing his faded-pink work uniform, and had on a pink work hat. He had on his normal, knee length khaki shorts, and he was also wearing pink vans. He was about a foot taller than me. Fern knew about me committing crimes but also preventing crimes, so he said I’m not to bad and he considers me a friend. He’s an omnic, and one of the nicest ones you’ll ever meet. “Mornin’ Fern.” I said. “Nice to see you too, Alex.” he replied, in his high-pitched, metallic British accent. “The usual, please.” I asked. “Will do.” Just then sirens whirred past the bakery, and, as I expected, they didn’t stop. “What was that?” he asked and looked in my direction. “Alex, did you get caught?” he said, taunting me a little. I looked down in shame. “... maybe.” “Need help?” he asked nicely. Sometimes I’m glad there are robots like him in the world and not just people that like to ruin my life. But, then again, i’m also ruining theirs. “...maybe.” I said again. “I’m going out of state… permanently” he almost dropped his bagel platter. “And leave me?!” he said, throwing the platter, almost hitting me. Bagels flew in every direction, and I could see he winced at the action. I definitely wasn’t expecting that. I thought it would be something like ‘well dangit, Alex I can’t control government’ or something like ‘you’re on your own’. “Wait.. you want to come? with, me?, loser, washed up Alex the criminal?” He put the platter down on the counter after picking it up, and stepped back. “Uh, well, you probably didn’t know this, but you’re my best… only friend in this city... “ he said shyly, wrapping one of his hands around the other nervously. “Well, I’m not saying you can’t come with me-” “-SO YES??!” he said excitedly. I looked around, and shrugged with a smile. I looked at him and spun my head a bit. “Duh.” He ran around the counter at record speed and gave me a giant hug. “Thank you!!!” he said. I could tell he was smiling even if he couldn’t make physical expressions. I chuckled then smiled, “Ha, no problem man.” He then let go of me, taking a step back. He made a sound like he took in deep breath, “hey, I gotta leave soon, so you’d need to start packing pretty soon as well…” I stated, turning to the door. He just seemed to realize that as he yelped. “Oh my god, you’re right!” he said, distressed. “I must leave immediately!.” “Wait, what?” he quickly stuffed a cinnamon roll inside a brown paper bag and handed it to me. I was looking down at it, then I looked up, and he was already halfway out the door. “MEET ME AT MY APARTMENT IN AN HOUR!” he yelled, pedestrians giving him confused looks. “OKAY!” I yelled back.


	3. Ride

“Anything else?”  
Fern yelled from the back of his apartment. “I don’t know! check the closet again!” I yelled back. I was helping fern clean out what was in his apartment, turns out all he had was several articles of clothing and some unopened sodas. “Found it!” he yelled. He came running into his living room holding what looked like a second face mask. He wasn’t wearing a shirt, as usual, and he wore giant, army-green cargo pants with dozens of unnecessary pockets. He was also wearing his pink sneakers from earlier, they were his only shoes. Besides that he was just… robot. But not just any robot, one with emotions, a high pitched voice, and my admiration. “What is that?” I asked. “What, you don’t do yoga?” he asked me, putting it in his small suitcase.. er, backpack. “Uh, nevermind.” I said, and went back to looking for anything else useful. I couldn’t find anything except a few dead roaches. “Ready to go?” I asked him from across the room. He sighed, and looked up at me, “Yup!”. He seemed reluctant to leave, odd. I know it’s a big move, but still. We walked out to the parking lot after he returned his key and did some paperwork. “Where’s your car?” I asked. “I don’t have a car.” “What?!” I shouted. “Don’t worry, I got an uber.” “Are you crazy! I can’t be seen!” “oh jesus, you’re right!” he exclaimed. Just then a bright green hover-Nissan pulled up, and the guy driving rolled down the window. He looked high or something. “You guys order an uber?” he said, rolling his head. “Yes uh, we did!” said Fern, glancing my way and adding an awkward chuckle at the end. “Alright, gimme a second-” he started cleaning out the back seat. How gross. “Hood.” whispered fern. “What?” I whispered back. “Pull. up. Hood!.” he said with quiet urgency. “Oh-!” I quickly pulled up my hood so he couldn’t see me. I pulled tight on the strings. My hood shaded my face, despite the weather. “Aight, get in.” we both got into the backseat one at a time, and he started driving us to the airport. We didn’t say anything until he spoke up. “Why’s your hood up, little boy?.” “uh-” I looked at Fern. He did a quick hand chop neck motion and I spoke up. “-uh, we’re going to an Overwatch convention, sir. And I’m Commander Reyes.” I said, in a raspy, fake voice. I looked over at Fern who was doing a pretty hard face palm right then.“Who’s Overwatch?” he said, in a drunken tone. Fern and I shared glances, and nodded. “Um, my grandma… sir?.” “Oh, ok.” he went back to driving. I leaned in towards Fern and whispered, “I think he’s drugged up or something.” “Me too.” he whispered back. “Hey, um, sir?” I asked. “Yeah?” he replied. “Can we pull over? He has to pee.” Fern slapped my hand. “Sure, kid.” he quickly pulled over, almost knocking over a parking meter. We got out as fast as we could along with fern’s bag. “See you tomorrow!” I said, waving at him from the sidewalk. “Yeah, uh, see you!” said Fern, standing next to me. “Bye kids! love you-” he managed, then passed out onto his wheel. It made a long honking sound until we ran over and moved his head back. People were staring. We then ran back to the sidewalk and began walking with haste. “He’ll… “ hesitated Fern, “-be fine.” he said, his voice wavering. “I hope.” I said. We walked until we got to a deserted bus stop I could relax at. We sat down on the sheltered bench there and huffed, and waited. I pulled my hood down, and fern spoke up, “So, what do you plan to do when we get there?” “where, Nevada?” “No-” he said, in a playful tone. “-the airport. What are you gonna do about your face?, you can’t just cover it up the entire time and say you’re cosplaying.” Hm, I hadn’t thought about that. “Maybe I could change my appearance in a different way?” “Hm-” he made a robot thinking sound, “- you could wear makeup, and cut your hair. Your hair is pretty much a dead giveaway.” He was right, I had long brown hair that poofed out of my hood that also unfortunately had shitty highlights. (my stupid decision). “I could cut my hair, it would improve my movement when punching bad guys in the nose as well as change my look.” “well, there’s that.” he said sarcastically. “Do you have a knife?” I asked. “Do I have a what?” he asked, a little startled and sarcastic. “Do you have a knife, fern.” I said, rolling my eyes. “Well, no-” he said, looking down. “-but I do have this weird thing on my arm that works like a knife.” “what-” I was about to say something, but a loud ‘shink’ noise made its way to my ears before I could. Fern had two gigantic, machete-type blades protruding from his hands on the top of his arms. A few seconds in silence passed. “WHAT.” I said, wide eyed. I looked up at him and he was chuckling. “Uh, see, I haven’t gotten them under control, but at least I know how to activate and deactivate them.” He looked down at his bare, robot chest and pointed to a small grey button. “All i have to do is press this-” he said, and then pushed down a small button in the middle of his chest plates. The blades retracted back into his arms and he did jazz hands.”-voila!” “Um, on second thought, maybe we should cut my hair later, and with the right tools. Uh, also, how the hell did you learn to do that?” I asked. No-one would care if they saw an omnic with knives, they’re probably used to it by now in this part of the city they’re living in. But these were some big knives... “I… can’t remember. About two months ago I woke up in that apartment, not knowing much at all. But (luckily?) soon after, I learned what this button did!” He pointed at it again. “Wait, are you serious?” I asked in disbelief. That’s exactly what had happened to me. “Yeah, you wanna see again?” he said, pointing to the button a third time. “No, not that, I mean can you not remember anything?” I asked eagerly. “Sadly, I cannot.” “Well, that’s strange. The same exact thing happened to me, except I woke up on the roof of the barbecue that blew up a day agoooo…” I said, rushing my words. I looked down. Fern waved his hands in front of himself in a flurry, and then rubbed his non-existent temples. “Wait, you BLEW UP A RESTAURANT!?” he shouted, throwing his arms up in surprise. “THAT’S WHY YOU RAN AWAY?!” he said, covering his face in disbelief. “well, kind of… it’s a long story.” I replied in shame. “WHY DIDN’T YOU SAY SOMETHING ALEX?! MY BESTEST FRIEND SINCE A MONTH AGO?-” “-OK I KNOW I know, sorry..” I shouted over him, suddenly drawing back my volume. “Sorry, I’m just stressed.” I said, leaning on my arm, my other arm playing with my blonde streaks. I sighed, ashamed of my attitude. “It’s alright… I'm sorry too. You just... worry me sometimes.” he said, kind of sarcastically. “Just don’t blow anything else up. We’re in this together now, you know.” “Yeah, I know.” he peered over the top of my head. “Hey, here comes the bus. Cover up.” he spoke as the bus pulled up, and he patted my shoulder affectionately. It looked old. The doors opened, and the omnic driver asked us, “Where to?.” “Can you do the airport, please?.” Fern asked back. “Yessiree.” he answered, sounding exhausted. “Let’s go.” He whispered as we hastily walked onto the bus. Fern efficiently dropped 10 credits into the virtual coin slot by waving his hand over the hologram. I always thought new tech was cool. We walked to the back of the bus and both took a seat. The driver started off, and we were on our way to the airport. Finally.


	4. Awakening

“So, what are we gonna do about this?”  
I pointed at my hair and asked Fern as we stepped off the bus. “I could buy some scissors for you.” Fern suggested. The bus drove off and left us in the empty parking lot where rental cars usually parked for flights. “Why buy when you can just steal-er-borrow?” I said, mixing those last two words on “accident”. “Well, I’m not a criminal-’er’- “anti hero”, so I wouldn’t-’er’- "understand.” He said, toying with me. “Har har, cut it out, bucket head.” I said, lightly punching his arm. He chuckled, and I said slyly, “You know, I used to have a blade in my bag, before I lost it.” “Well, why didn’t you use it, or try to use it, against the guys after you?” “I didn’t want to kill anybody, obviously.” I joked. “I mean, you could have just injured somebody if you had-” “-Maybe they have a store in there.” I said, looking in the giant window in the distance about 50 yards away. I added, “Let’s go.” I patted his shoulder and stole his bag out of his hand. “H-hey! Come on!” He said, and we walked through the entrance.  
Fern did all the paperwork while I stayed behind him, I didn’t know what to do really except hide behind him and smother my face into his back. He said it was fine, as long as I didn’t make it look like assault. When we got to the security area he told me to stay calm, and hide my face as well as I could. You may be thinking it’s easy for people to see my mutant-like face, but my hood is green, so you can’t really tell. I had to ditch my mask for a few seconds when we went through security. It was nerve-wracking and painful for a few seconds, but hey, at least they didn’t figure out my real identity. (The security system was shit, also). They had a special security machine for Omnics, though. We walked up to a storage room which was separate from the main area, just down the hall from the normal security procedures place. “Omnics. Only.” said the golden-faced robot at the door in a heavy, metallic voice. They held up their hand to my face just inches away. I peered over to see Fern nervously pacing. “Uh, i’ll just be waiting…” I said, pointing to a bench behind me, “Just hurry up.” “don’t worry, Alex. I won’t be long.” he said, and then disappeared into the Omnic security room. I walked back to the bench, and sat down his luggage. Since I was sitting on an open bench other carry-ons were laid out on the seat. A leather purse and a small children’s backpack. I checked to see if anybody was around, but they were probably in another room. I rummaged around in the purse until I found what I was looking for, a blade. It was a five-inch, black-hilted switchblade. You rarely see these around anymore, but if you did, they were very valuable. I swiped it and walked to the bathroom. I opened the door, and shuffled to the mirror. I lowered my hood, and took out my new blade. I held my hair in one hand, raised the blade to my hair and thought, here goes. It took maybe ten minutes until my long hair was down to the nape of my neck. The middle of it was choppy and uneven, and one side was longer than the other when I let it down. I took a look at myself. “Woah” I said to the mirror. It looked better than I’d thought it would when I tied it back up. I pushed the blade back in, and put it in my jacket pocket. I looked at all my hair in the sink and said aloud “I’m not touching that.” I walked out of the bathroom and heard sudden alarms. Fern came running out of the storage room, and yelled at me from down the hall. “C’MON! WE GOTTA GET TO A PLANE!” I ran back to get his backpack from the bench, and we sprinted down to the waiting areas. There was one plane that had yet to board, and it was empty. Fern quickly threw the door open, and We ran down the detachable tube-like hall that connected the plane to the docking area. We barreled into the plane, and I threw his luggage onto the seats. “Get to the cockpit!” Fern shouted, speeding to the nearest seat he could find. “What are you thinking?!” I shouted. “We have to get out of here, now, can you fly a plane?” “WHAT!?” “Ok, so no, I assume.” He nervously bantered, strapping himself in with haste. “HEY! THEY WENT DOWN THERE!” we both heard guards at the end of the connected passageway yell. “Hurry!” he said, detaching the locks that held the passageway onto the plane with a tool he found near the cockpit. I ran and stood behind the pilot’s chair, and looked at all the buttons and switches around me. “Oh, what do I do, what do I do?!” I said, waving my hands around my head in frustration. “I don’t know, think of something!.” He shouted, the guards maybe 30 yards away. I didn’t know what happened then, but all I knew is that I did something that worked. I suddenly lowered my gaze, making an odd expression. A mix of panic and solitude. What was happening?. I screamed, my fingertips burning, as well as the underside of my arms and the sides of my body too. The explosion happened again, the white rose from the ground and time seemingly stopped, But this time, I didn’t black out. I looked around, and Fern was as still as the sun appears. Everything seemed off, dead. “... What?” I wondered, and said out loud. I was kind of scared to move. I walked over to him, and tapped his shoulder. This isn’t normal I thought… obviously. I heard a zapping sound, or like a machine whirr when it comes back to life. He shook his head, and looked around. He noticed me behind him, “OHMYGOODNESS-” “Listen, I know that whatever I did made time stop and-” “NOT THAT, YOUR FACE ALEX! YOU’RE NOT WEARING YOUR MASK!” he yelled, worried for my sake more than why everything was absent of movement. I stuttered in surprise as I felt my scarred lips instead of my hard mask when I put my hands over my mouth. “I… I can breathe!.” I said, filled with strange joy. “Wait, where’s my mask, though?!” I panicked, because when time resumed, if it did, I needed my mask. I didn’t know if I was going to be able to breathe with it on or not anymore. “Isn’t that it over there?” He said, pointing towards the pilot’s seat. It was floating in mid air, like magic. I peered past his slender metal arm and walked to it slowly. I tapped it, and it fell to the ground with a thump. “So, apparently I can stop time.” I blurted, turning back around to face him. “How so?” Fern asked, a little shaky. He was looking around an awful lot, even if he had a face plate I could clearly see the cowardice. “That’s the thing, I don’t know.” I said, and then realized something urgent. “The guards!” I yelled, and ran back to the cockpit. I sat down with urgency and suddenly the tips of my fingers started glowing with electricity, sparks flying inches from them every second. “WHAT.” I stuttered, wide-eyed and in shock. “DO SOMETHING!” Fern yelled, and I slammed my hands onto the dash. I could feel the electricity under my palms, buzzing with excitement and anticipation. The plane suddenly whirred to life, moving forward. Time resumed just as the plane started moving, and fern backed up, closing the door after detaching the long passageway from the plane itself. “HOW DID YOU DO THAT?” He yelled as the plane picked up speed. “I DON’T KNOW, BUT IT’S WORKING!” I yelled back over the sound of wind outside the plane. “WE’RE PICKING UP SPEED!” I screamed. “I’M READY!.” I looked forward to see the runway coming at me faster, picking up speed every second. “ALEX!” I heard fern scream, distant now. My eyes fluttered shut, and my head hit the dash. We had lift-off.


	5. Nevada

"Hey Alex.”  
I said, trying to wake him. He had passed out earlier when we had lift off, I saw from the back seat behind the cockpit. I moved up since we were stable and in the air, Alex was piloting surprisingly well for a passed out 16 year old fugitive. His hands wouldn’t stop twitching and glowing, sparks flying less frequently now. It had been at least an hour since lift off, I had already tried waking him before. “Wha-huh?.” He stuttered as he blinked his eyes open. “You’ve been asleep for an hour.” I responded. He looked up and out the window only to see the clouds that appeared to be several thousand feet above the airline, and a blue sky with an almost red horizon. He leapt back, and while keeping his hands on the dash he gasped in shock, “SWEET JESUS.” He went wide eyed, I chuckled. “Don’t worry, look.” I said, pointing to a virtual map being projected from one of the walls in the cockpit. It had appeared after Alex passed out, and it showed that we were on a course to New Las Vegas, Nevada. He took a closer look, turning his head around while still focusing on his hands. “Vegas? why Vegas?.” He asked me bluntly. “I don’t know, you’re the magical time boy with powers, why don’t you tell me.” “Oh, shut up, dork.” He said, rolling his eyes and forming a sly smile. “Hey, uh, Fern?” He asked after I walked a few feet back from the cockpit. “Yeah?.” I responded. “Can you get me a snack maybe? I need to eat.” He said, raspy but loud enough to hear clearly. “Sure, I was gonna get one for myself anyway.” I responded. After I grabbed several dozen packs of cashews I headed back up to the cockpit, and laid them down behind the pilot's chair. “You can’t eat, you’re an Omnic, remember?” He said, looking down anxiously at all the snack bags. I opened one up and pressed a cashew against the ridges in my face plate. I spoke quietly, “Yeah, but I still like to feel human… sometimes.” “That’s cool. I understand.” He responded. He grabbed a bag off of the floor while keeping one hand on the dash, and the plane seemed to tilt dramatically. He quickly put his hand back on the dash, dropping the bag and spilling cashews everywhere. “Uh… “ He sounded, “Can you… feed me?.” “What?.” I responded, my neural processors lagged. ”Just… put them in my mouth.” He said, sighing afterwards. I huffed, “Fine, but wouldn’t that require you take off your mask?” I added. “Just take it off for a few seconds, I’ll be fine.” He assured. “Alright.” I replied, unstrapping the sides of his dirty mask. I noticed how his greenish brown scales shimmered every time he moved his face, and I could see his reptilian eye narrow and expand. Did he not trust me?. I grabbed a cashew out of the bag and took it off with haste. He opened his mouth and for the first time I saw his sharp teeth and snake-like tongue. His teeth formed in unorganized rows like a sharks, they glistened when I moved my head, and the teeth themselves looked like they could shred my wires up. His tongue was also mutated so badly it looked like it got caught in a blender. He closed his mouth as I placed the mask back on his face, holding it onto his nose so he didn’t suffocate while chewing. A moment of silence passed. “Do you remember even the slightest detail?” I asked, knowing he most likely doesn’t have an answer. “No… just that I was coughing when it happened. You see, I haven’t told you yet but, I do have one memory from before two months ago. It was when I was a little… child. I remember one day I was lost. In a cave I think… feeling myself turn into this, and then falling.” He said, and looked down at his torso. “I can’t remember much, but I try to every day.” He said, letting out a small whimper. I strapped his mask back on carefully. “And sirens. That’s all.” Just after he said that we felt and heard a bump from the back of the plane. I looked over my shoulder, and something was there. Then gone. It was a tall figure, and it was grabbing onto the seats from the aisle. I thought I saw a white mask, then it disappeared into smoke. I stared bewildered, I had no idea what it was. We felt the bump again. “What’s going on...” Alex said, terrified. We looked up and there was smoke pouring from the panels all around us. “UM.” He stuttered, stricken with fear. He looked back out the window, and saw that we were going down, and fast. “WE NEED TO GET OUT.” He panicked. “ARE YOU CRAZY?” I responded, grabbing my bag and strapping it onto the front of my body. I already knew what was going to happen, I just didn’t want to say it. How in the world did I get into this mess… He ran down the hallway, suddenly leaving his post at the dash as the pilot, and the plane started going down faster. “GRAB ONE AND OPEN THE DOOR!” He yelled, grabbing a parachute and strapping himself in it. I did so as well, rushing to get to the door several feet behind the shelf with stacked parachutes hanging from it’s sides. I put it on my back and opened the door. I glanced out several inches from inside the plane, careful not to fall out, the plane was falling towards the ground at a speed I had never seen in my life. It looked like a lake, but I wasn’t sure. Alex looked at me with a calm, reassuring expression. “It’s alright... we’ll be ok.” He said. He suddenly grimaced, looked out of the door and shouted, “JUMP!” He jumped out, and I followed. We pulled our chutes at the same time and drifted towards each other as the plane spiraled down past us, now in flames. He grabbed my arm and pulled me back towards him as he said, “WE’RE ALIVE!.” He was holding his mask onto his face, careful not to let go. The wind could rip it right off despite the worn straps. “WOO!” I shouted back as we floated down, holding onto each other for dear life as the wind pushed us a bit away from the water hole where the flaming plane rested underwater in pieces. “I… need an aspirin.” He panted as we floated swiftly towards the trees. A few minutes later we landed in a setting that looked like a small woodsy area, a few hundred yards or so from a neighborhood, and there were few houses around here that might’ve seen us. The plane wasn’t too big now that I looked at it, about the size of a normal cargo load. Maybe 45 feet long, 30 wide, with wings now broken lying in the water and in flames, it’s nose poking out a little from the water’s surface. After we dodged the trees and landed, we unhooked our parachutes and walked to someone’s backyard several hundred yards away from the plane. It was sunset, and I could see the sun setting over the horizon. When we got there, we climbed over their small picket fence and sat in their only shaded lawn chairs. Their lawn was scattered with random stuff like little tikes toys, lots of it was covered in moss and unkempt weeds. The umbrella that shaded the table and two chairs was salmon pink, and after taking a seat we both sat there in silence. Alex broke it with a yawn, “What a day.” He said, propping up his feet on a small toy truck. “I think I’m gonna...sleep…” He said, leaning back and stretching his entire body. I looked at the sun one more time before I powered down. I couldn’t stop thinking of the thing on the plane, the glowing dots were embedded into my neural processors ever since it happened. “Night.” I said, turning over and shutting down.

**Author's Note:**

> If there's any suggestions you have for lore please tell me! i'm not super good at lore and if u have any suggestions for that (and/or my grammar) please tell me. thanks ! im glad so many people even look at this piece of garbage lol my rat children don't deserve this much love


End file.
